The Problems of Love
by DigitalWarrior96
Summary: When another redhead is introduced to the Tamers, Rika isn't all that impressed. What's her problem with the new girl? Whose side will Takato take when things take a turn for the worst? RukatOC inside.
1. The Redhead

(Disclaimer: About the only thing for Digimon I own, besides some OC characters are a few of the games and some collectibles from chip packets. So no, I don't own anything from this story besides the OC I'll introduce.)

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**The Problems of Love**

**Chapter 1: The Redhead**

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_**Shinjuku Ward – Shinjuku Park**_

**"Trump Swords!"**

A clown lept its way over a gleaming white lance that had been thrust its way, only to draw two of his own four swords out from the puzzle box on his back and slash at his assailants back. Pain shot through the knight that the clown had attacked previously, the knight also being the owner of the lance.

"Not a very front-on fighter, are we now?" The knight asked while he recovered from the backslash.

"I'm faster than you and more agile too. Why not use that to my advantage?" The jester chuckled evilly, sheathing his swords back into the holders in his back.

"This doesn't mean you'll beat me." The knight responded, his crimson cape billowing slightly in the breeze that swept through the park their battle was taking place in.

"But you're all alone, how do you intend to" The jester was cut off when he heard a gasp come from behind him. He craned his head slightly to see a red haired girl standing behind him, books scattered across the ground near a cream bag at her feet.

"Well, well. The cavalry has arrived!" The clown bellowed with laughter and steeped to the side, giving the knight a good look at who had arrived.

_'Is that Rika? No, can't be. Renamon would be fighting already and her hair is different to this girl…' _The knight thought to himself.

"Well, don't mind if I take her out of this equation. After all, two is company but three's a crowd. **Clown Trick!**" And as quick as the girl had been noticed, she had disappeared as the jester threw a small yellow, material square at her.

"Agh, what did you do with her?!" The knight roared demandingly.

"Now, now. If you aren't careful with that hot head of yours then your helmet might melt. I simply removed her from the playing field is all; she's in relatively no harm."

**"Lightning Joust!"**

A blast of energy was launched from the tip of the knight's raised lance that shot straight towards the cackling clown but missed as he easily jumped over it and behind the knight. However, this move had been anticipated and instead of swords colliding with armour, shield collided with face as the knight spun around and smashed the clown to the ground with his shield, Aegis.

"I hope you have fun when I let your data float back to the Digital World, Piedmon." The knight mumbled, bringing his lance down through Piedmon's chest.

"This isn't over my dear Gallantmon, why, it's far from it!" Piedmon laughed as his body dissipated into data fragments and floated away.

"Whew… I'm glad that's over." Gallantmon sighed in relief, this time his voice was less raspy than usual and more of what a teenager would sound like.

"But Takato, what about that girl?" The knight asked in a raspy, childish voice.

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about her." The teen voice chuckled again.

"Either you have a split personality, or you just love to talk to yourself. Either way do you think you could get me down from here?" A trembling voice called out from above.

Gallantmon looked up to see the girl clinging to the tree she was stuck in, his lance turned into his hand his shield doing likewise. He held his arms out and gave her a reassuring look with his golden eyes and she eased her way down and dropped off into his arms.

"Thank you, that clown was extremely creepy." She stated nervously. She raised one quivering hand to the left side of her head and pushed her hair over to the right and let it hang down over her right shoulder as well as letting her fringe almost cover her shimmering green right eye.

"It was our pleasure!" The childish voice cheered before the exalted knight, Gallantmon, flashed with a bright light and in his place stood a small red and black dinosaur alongside a tall teenage boy with messy brown hair fitted with yellow rimmed goggles.

"What? How did you do that?" The girl asked in a surprised tone.

"You must be new around here. I'm one of the Tamers of Shinjuku, you know, the kids who saved the world three times?" The teen stated.

"Oh, I remember seeing you on the news at my old house! There was that incident with all the electronics getting viruses because of a Digimon, then the pink blob and then all those spider looking ones…" The girl shivered.

"Exactly! I'm Takato Matsuki and this is my partner and best friend, Guilmon." Takato introduced himself and Guilmon, the little saurian giving the new friend a wave.

"So, what's your name?" Guilmon questioned, wanting to know more about the new girl.

"My name's Yumichi Ichano." She replied, walking over to her scattered books and collecting them up and into her bag with Takato's generous offer of help.

"Say, do you know where Shinjuku Upper High is? I'm kinda late now…" She sighed. "Great impression for the first day, huh?" She joked lightly.

"Yeah, I go to school there too which means that I'm late again." Takato sighed. "Guilmon, why don't you go to your hideout or my house until I get back from school?" He suggested, the little saurian nodded and ran off to find a source of entertainment.

"Again?" Yumichi wondered aloud, hinting that Takato should answer.

"I'm late most of the time, Mrs Asaji is used to it now and I don't get in trouble anymore if it's because of a Digimon attack. So I should be fine. Uh, what classroom do you have?" Takato asked as the two started off at a quick walk towards the high school, Takato having picked up his black bag from a nearby tree which he had placed there prior to fighting Piedmon.

"I think its room 24. Yes, it is. Room 24." Yumichi smiled, peering at Takato through her light red hair.

"Oh, that's the same room as Kazu, Kenta, Jeri and I." Takato replied.

"The other Tamers I assume?"

"Some of them. Henry is in room 21, Rika goes to a private school and Ryo lives in Kyushu. Just be wary of Kazu too, he's a little…strange." Takato chuckled.

"I've heard of Rika and Ryo before. I hadn't remembered their names properly." Yumichi confessed.

"I'm not surprised, Rika is pretty hot-headed and she's the Digimon queen to boot. Ryo is the legendary Tamer and the Digimon King, to Rika's dismay." Takato chuckled.

"Having a Digimon would be so cool." Yumichi sighed, gazing off into the trees.

"Getting Guilmon was the best thing that ever happened to me, but Digimon are dangerous too…" Takato stared at the ground through his hair as he relived some old, life-threatening memories. Yumichi noticed and decided that she would inquire about what Takato was thinking about.

"Are you okay?" She asked as the two walked across the road out of the park and towards the school, Yumichi staying a step behind Takato in case he changed direction and she didn't notice.

"Yeah, we've just had our fair share of horrible times. But it's all done now and we only have the wild ones to deal with now." Takato said, his attitude becoming more cheery now as he directed her down a right hand turn, their school now in sight.

Yumichi wanted to know more about what had happened to make the boy so sad so quick but decided against ruining his mood, seeing as though he had also just saved her.

"Do you think that maybe we should run?" She suggested.

"Good idea." Takato replied, the two teens ran down the sidewalk, their trainers hitting the pavement rhythmically.

* * *

_**Shinjuku Ward – Shinjuku Upper High – Room 24**_

"Trust Takato to be late…" A brown haired woman sighed; it had become a morning routine for the boy ever since she had first started teaching him and prior to that as well based on her limited knowledge of his past classes.

"You can't blame it on him this time, after all, Kazu and Kenta's D-Arcs went off to signal a Digimon attack." A girl in a yellow dress with a light green shirt stated, defending the Tamer mentioned previously.

"Yeah!" A brown hair boy jumped up and pumped his fist defiantly, his sun visor almost falling off his head as a result of not being pulled on tight enough.

"Sit down Kazu. I may not be able to put Takato on detention but I sure can put you on detention." The lady stated, giving Kazu a glare.

"That's not fair though, he didn't do anything wrong…" A green haired boy mumbled nervously, his teacher not hearing his muffled words.

As Kazu made his move to sit back down he heard thumping coming from outside of the white walls of the classroom. He ran to the wall closest to the hallway and put his ear up against it and listened intently. His teacher, Mrs Asaji, was about to blow her gasket when a smirk appeared on the boy's face and the class knew what was about to happen.

The door to the room flew open and Takato burst inside, he started muttering apologies to the teacher who stood there expectantly with one hand on her hip, listening to the same things he was used to muttering every morning.

"Well, you're hardly the valiant knight in shining white armour that saved me before now." Yumichi laughed as she entered the doorway. The jaws of Kazu and Kenta could be heard hitting the floor at the sight of the redhead. From the back of the classroom the two boys could've sworn they were looking at Rika with her hair down.

"Ah, you must be my new student. What's this about being saved?" Mrs Asaji questioned.

"Well there was a Digimon attack and during the fight he threw this yellow blanket thing over her and she disappeared. After I defeated him she ended up being stuck in a tree." Takato recounted, a blush forming on Yumichi's cheeks at the thought of her new classmates knowing she was caught in a tree.

"How noble of you Takato, you can go and sit down now." Mrs Asaji commanded, the boy moving to his seat by the window. A convenient spot for the day dreaming gogglehead. "Why don't you introduce yourself to the class dear?" Mrs Asaji asked Yumichi, the red haired girl nodded and turned to face the class.

"Well, my name is Yumichi Ichano…" She started as two great sighs of relief sounded from the back of the room. "My dad moved my family over here from Nagano when he received a job offer from the Metropolitan Government Building. That's about it I guess." She finished off and was pointed towards the desk next to Takato's.

"Why did those two boys at the back sigh when I said my name?" She asked the brown haired Tamer.

"They probably mistook you for Rika at first but your eyes and hair would've given it away if they hadn't heard your name. The one with the visor is Kazu and the one with the glasses is Kenta." Takato replied quiet enough for her to hear.

"What do you mean my eyes and hair?" Yumichi asked, not knowing whether to be offended or not at the statement.

"Well, Rika always has her hair up in a spiked ponytail and her eyes are the brightest shade of indigo…" He replied, drifting away from the conversation at hand a little.

"Awww, sounds like someone has a crush." Yumichi teased the boy with a giggle.

"Eh? What, no I don't!" Takato whispered quickly, a blush forming on his cheeks.

"That's cute, Takato." She giggled again.

"Hey, Jeri. What do you think's going on with Chumley and the new girl?" Kazu whispered to Jeri, the brown haired girl and ex-Tamer in front of him.

"From what I heard he saved her from the Digimon that bio emerged, I assume they've already made introductions on their way here. I think it's good she made a friend so quickly, at least she won't be alone." Jeri replied hastily to avoid getting caught by Mrs Asaji.

"Kenta, do you think that she'll go out with me?" Kazu asked his friend who gave him a look of disbelief.

"If anything, it's Takato that has the best chance right now." He replied, jotting down the trigonometry notes Mrs Asaji was writing up on the chalk board, the same working flying right over Kazu's head.

"Yeah but everyone knows Chumley's in love with Rika, that much would be obvious to even Calumon." Kazu snorted.

"Fine, but if you remember, you don't have the best of luck when it comes to redheads, I mean, Rika hates your guts." Kenta reminded the visor wearing teen on cloud nine.

"She hates yours too…" Kazu huffed, folding his arms across his chest.

"Only because I hang out with you. I reckon she wouldn't have as much of a problem with me if I weren't with you all of the time."

"Well I'm glad you know what team your on at least. Team Kazu is amazing." Kazu chuckled, Kenta did too but more about how big his friend's ego was than of the lame joke.

"Whatever you say…" He sighed, completing off his notes and taking the short moment to relax.

"That's the kind of spirit I expect from Team Kazu is awesome!" Kazu cheered causing Kenta to sigh once again as he adjusted his glasses.

"So what are Rika, Ryo and Henry like?" Yumichi asked her newest and only friend in Shinjuku, Takato.

"Well, Rika has a short fuse, especially when it comes to Kazu and even more so when it comes to Ryo. They're both good guys, they just know how to push her buttons even if they don't mean to. Ryo likes to keep personal things out of conversations, especially when it comes to his Digimon, Cyberdramon. Cyberdramon is even more violent than Rika can be, he gets so out of control that Ryo can't even control him." Takato explained. Yumichi was surprised that there was a Digimon the Legendary Tamer couldn't even handle but she kept listening to show respect.

"Henry is a smart guy; he doesn't like fighting but knows that he has to, to keep people safe. His Digimon, Terriermon, another one on Rika's list of hated things. He has quite the mouth, the polar opposite to Henry." Takato chuckled.

"Do you think you could introduce me to them? I'd like to make more friends." Yumichi asked hopefully, using her left hand to sweep her hair over to her right shoulder.

"Yeah, we all meet in the park every afternoon. Except Ryo, he lives too far away for that. Just stop by this place here and I'll take you there." Takato hastily scribbled down some directions onto a piece of paper that he pulled from his notebook and handed it to Yumichi.

"The Matsuki Bakery? Didn't you say your last name was Matsuki?" Yumichi wondered, inclining the boy to answer again.

"Yeah, my parents own the bakery and we live above it. I have to help out sometimes and it's good fun when Guilmon doesn't try and eat all the bread." Takato chuckled.

"Guilmon seems gentle; he seemed so different when you two were merged like that." Yumichi noted.

"Yeah, he's pretty childish in most of his evolutions." The goggled Tamer responded, staring out the window and into a tree where the thick foliage would cover any animals held within.

"Most of them?"

"It was something that happened that I'd like to save for another time. If you don't mind." Takato shifted uncomfortably in his seat and begun to write down the new work that was up on the board, having neglected small sections of the trigonometry.

"Is it because you don't really know me?" Yumichi asked rather brusquely forcing Takato to shift uneasily once more.

"It's not that, just something that was set off because of an unfortunate chain of events that led to the D-Reaper." Takato groaned.

"What's the D-Reaper?"

"The big pink blob."

"Oh. I'm sorry if I'm asking too many questions." Yumichi bowed her head slightly in apology but Takato waved it off with a polite smile.

"Don't worry about it." He whispered with a huge grin that replaced his once grim expression. "Still wanna come this afternoon?" He asked.

"Of course. Is it okay if I turn up around half past four?" Yumichi probed, her green eyes trying to focus on the work on the board while her mind tried to focus on the conversation.

"Sure thing. If I'm not at the counter then just ask my parents to get me." Takato responded. Yumichi felt a sensation of happiness at what she had managed to accomplish today, at first she had figured she would be sitting alone in a class full of strangers but instead she had been saved by a knight who turned out to be the combined form of a human and Digimon. She had even managed to make friends with Takato.

_'Although it wasn't that hard seeing as though he's so nice.'_ She mused.

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_**End of Chapter.**_

_**If I'm good enough at the time of writing this then the story should set off without a hitch. I hope you enjoy it and leave a review. I think it will be an interesting story for you readers, it sure is a new thing for me to be writing, you'll see what I mean later.**_

**_So there's another redhead besides Riley and Rika in Shinjuku. What will Rika think of Yumichi? What will Yumichi think of Rika? You'll have to wait until I write the next chapter, won't you?_**

**_Yumichi's last name is also pronounced as 'Ickano' but spelt as Ichano because the 'k' looks weird, ahahah._**

**_-DW96_**


	2. Official Meetings

(Disclaimer: About the only thing for Digimon I own, besides some OC characters are a few of the games and some collectibles from chip packets. So no, I don't own anything from this story besides the OC I'll introduce.)

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**The Problems of Love**

**Chapter 2: Official Meetings  
**

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_**Shinjuku Ward**_

The door to the well-known Matsuki bakery chimed rather pleasantly as Yumichi opened its door while she mulled over thoughts from that afternoon as school had ended.

She had gotten up after the bell rung and fixed up her grey jeans then went to pull her bag straps over her shoulders when she had spied Kazu staring at her weirdly. The way he had been looking at her had made her rather uncomfortable so she had said a quick goodbye to Takato and rushed out quickly.

_'Takato did say that Kazu was a little weird. He can't be that bad though, besides, I haven't even met him formally yet.'_ Thoughts ran through her head as she admired the work that was put into all the different kinds of pastries lined in the shelves.

"Hi there, what can I get you?" A male voice called out. Yumichi turned her head to see a tall man with short brown hair. She noticed his apron and uniform was coated in flour as he set down a small towel that he had been wiping his hands on.

"Um… Are you Mr Matsuki?" She asked, nervously playing with the ends of her hair which was all pulled over her right shoulder in the fashion she liked it.

"That I am. You can call me Takehiro; I suppose you're here to talk to Takato then?" He inquired with a friendly smile that made her feel a lot more at ease than before.

"If he's not busy, please." She confirmed with a nod of the head.

"Nope, I think he was just about to go out anyways." He said. "Takato! You have a visitor!" He called out from the back doorway he had entered through before.

A muffled response came from upstairs followed by some rushed footsteps. Yumichi and Takehiro both flinched when Takato and Guilmon came tumbling down the staircase and hit the floor.

"Ugh, Guilmon… What'd I tell you about running down the stairs so close behind me?" Takato groaned.

"Not to?" Guilmon wondered, not quite sure if that was what Takato had actually said.

"Exactly." Takato muttered as he stood up and rubbed the back of his head. "What did you say before dad?" He asked his father who was trying not to chuckle at his son's misfortune.

"You have a visitor." He stepped aside and Takato could see Yumichi standing there anxiously. "Weren't you just about to go out anyways?"

"Yeah, I was going to take Yumichi to the park to meet everyone. See ya dad." Takato walked past his father and around the register, he opened the door up and gestured for Guilmon and Yumichi to walk out before him.

"Don't be back too late; you know how worried your mother will get." Takehiro warned, his son nodding in response. After the years, Takato and his friends had been trusted to stay out later but that didn't stop their mothers from worrying about them.

"Ever the gentleman." Yumichi giggled, making Takato blush once again.

"So, are you excited to meet everyone?" Takato asked her as they walked down the street with Guilmon in tow.

"I'm a little nervous to be honest." She admitted.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure everyone will be nice to you." Takato straightened out his blue jumper and readjusted the way his bag was sitting on his shoulders. "You said this morning that your father works at the Government Building now. What did he do before to get a job there?"

"He used to catalogue data, he's taught me a few things about it too. Says I'm a natural with computers. Why?" While she had explained her dad's old job Takato had nodded in understanding, as if he had known something she didn't about her own father.

"I can understand why they hired him then. By the way, that's something you and Henry could talk about, Henry's good with those kinds of things too." Takato mentioned.

"He said something about a section called Hypnos too." Yumichi added.

"That makes even more sense. Hypnos was the agency that used to be in charge of deleting the Digimon that appeared here but after they realised that us Tamers were better for the job, they decided to help us, estimating the cost of damaged, taking down how many come through each month. Things like that." He noted, the trio turning the corner they had come to, the park now in view.

"So my dad is basically working with you all then?"

"We don't actually work for Hypnos. We just help each other. Guilmon, why don't you go ahead and let everyone know that we'll be there soon?" Takato suggested.

"Bye bye Yumichi, see you soon!" He cheered as he ran off towards the park.

"He's so cute." She chuckled, her green eyes following him as he ran.

* * *

_**Shinjuku Ward – Shinjuku Park – Guilmon's Hideout**_

"Kazu, I beat you in the card game every single day and if you don't want me to physically beat you every single day then I suggest you shut up. I'm trying to have a conversation with Henry here and you babbling to your boyfriend is getting on my nerves." Rika Nonaka snapped at the visor wearing teen. Kenta had felt more than a little embarrassed at being referred to as Kazu's boyfriend but didn't show any sign of speaking up against Rika.

"Anyways, what were you saying about some new girl?" She asked, tapping her foot on the stone step she was standing on rhythmically.

"Yeah, a new girl was transferred to our school today, apparently Takato saved her from a Piedmon this morning." Henry repeated from his spot where he was leaning up against a tree.

"Takato has a thing for saving redheads in danger, doesn't he?" Terriermon joked from atop his blue haired Tamers' head, said Tamer also rapping the little bunny over the head with his knuckles as punishment for being tactless.

"What do you mean by that?" Rika snorted, folding her arms across her chest and lifting her chin up slightly.

"Well he saved you from the Parisimon and saved her from Piedmon. Either Takato's good at saving girls with red hair, or girls with red hair aren't good enough to save themselves." Terriermon retorted, this time dodging the knuckles that came his way by using his large ears to hoist him up onto the branches of the tree.

Rika was about to make a remark about the dog-bunny when Guilmon stood beside her and begun to sniff the air in front of him.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Takato is coming!" He exclaimed happily and sure enough, as Rika looked down the stairs Takato was arriving with another girl that, as described to her, had red hair just like her except hers wasn't tied up and instead it was let loose and slung around her right shoulder.

"Hey guys, I'd like you to meet Yumichi." Takato introduced. "The one at the tree is Henry and the one there is Rika." Takato explained to her, gesturing to each person as he said their names.

"It's nice to formally meet you." Henry stepped forward and shook hands with Yumichi who was starting to feel more at ease with the situation. Rika was about to make introductions when Jeri, Kazu and Kenta all came out to meet her too.

"I'm Jeri, I didn't get a chance to say hello to you after school ended. I hope you're settling in well in Shinjuku." Jeri said pleasantly.

"I am, thank you." Yumichi replied.

"I'm Kazu and this is Kenta. Hey, do you think that I could maybe get your number?" Kazu asked with a glimmer of hope in his eyes, Kenta just sighed and rested his head in his hands, embarrassed for Kazu's sake.

"Ignore him, he's an idiot. I'm Rika." Rika huffed, uninterested and not sure why everyone was fussing over her.

_'She's just as ordinary as everyone else.' _Rika thought.

_'When has someone new entered our group, Rika?' _A calm, soothing voice responded telepathically from her hidden position in the trees.

_'It was Kenta, he was the last to get a Digimon.'_ Rika retorted.

_'That was three years ago. A new friend may be what makes our everyday activities interesting again, at least for a short while.'_ The voice said.

_'Whatever, Renamon.'_ Rika woke from her thoughts to find that almost everyone had gone back to their usual spots, Henry was leaning up against a tree, Kenta and Jeri were back inside the hideout, Takato was with Yumichi and the Digimon, Kazu was also there talking to Guardromon and she had sat down on the steps mid-way through her conversation with her kitsune partner.

"So you've already met Guilmon, that robot is Kazu's partner Guardromon, the little pink angel in MarineAngemon, he's Kenta's partner. Terriermon is over there in the tree above Henry. You probably won't see Renamon anytime soon, she prefers to say hidden, she's Rika's partner." Takato explained to Yumichi who had an easy enough time understanding.

"Wow, that's a lot of Digimon in one place." She sighed. "They're all so cute."

"Speak for yourself toots." A small purple imp wearing a red neckerchief dropped down from a nearby tree and stared at Yumichi for a few seconds. "Well? Where's my introduction? I'm as much a part of the team as these chowder heads." He snapped.

"Calm down, Yumichi, this is Impmon." Takato chuckled. "He is shared by the twins Ai and Mako. They aren't here because they're too young. There's also Lopmon, she is Henry's little sisters' partner. She's like Terriermon but a lot more polite." He explained.

"I noticed Jeri doesn't have a partner. I thought you said she was one of the Tamers?" After the words had been spoken a grave look fell on Impmon's face and Takato shook his head lightly.

"It's okay. You can tell her." Jeri said from behind. Rika heard this and walked over to Takato and Yumichi.

"Well… uh. This is what I was saying before about the hard times." Takato stammered uneasily.

"Jeri did have a partner at one point. His name was Leomon and back when Impmon wasn't our friend he got into a fight with Renamon and I. He was at his mega form, Beelzemon and he was about to delete Renamon when Leomon stepped in and took the blow." Rika explained gloomily.

"I got so angry after that, I had made Guilmon dark digivolve into Megidramon. A being that almost destroyed the whole of the Digital World just by existing. We managed to overcome it and digivolve the right way but it was still a dark moment." Takato looked over to Guilmon who was busy trying to catch a butterfly.

"The D-Reaper used my emotions to make a judgement on the human world and because of the way I was at the time it figured that we weren't worthy to exist and started to overwhelm everything until I was eventually saved by Takato and Impmon." Jeri finished it off and the heartbreak she had experienced was evident in her tone.

"I-I'm sorry…" Yumichi tried to apologize for having asked why but Rika had decided to cut in.

"You better be. That wasn't the greatest moment on our adventure and we'd all rather forget it and you've just come here and brought it all back up." She barked. Yumichi's eyes watered up with the sudden burst of unexpected anger that had been aimed at her. Instead of staying there and taking more of Rika's wrath she ran as fast as she could.

Takato looked after her and then back to Rika. He didn't know what to deal with first, Rika's anger or the crying Yumichi. After a few moments he took off after Yumichi without a single word and Rika turned and walked away from the group. Terriermon, who had heard the whole thing, was speechless.

"Hey, are you okay?" Takato asked, he had managed to catch up to Yumichi after she had stopped to sit down on the ground and pull her knees up close to her chest.

"I didn't mean to make everyone remember all of that." She said, trying to stop her voice from quivering.

"It's okay, really, it is. I don't know why Rika reacted like that though." Takato looked up to the sky through the leaves of the trees and wondered for a moment but couldn't come up with a plausible answer so he sighed in defeat.

"Do you think she hates me?" Yumichi asked, gaining Takato's attention.

"I'm not going to lie, with the way she snapped I have no way of knowing. Sorry." He apologised, he had just wondered that himself but what reason could Rika have for hating a girl she only just met.

"Do you think it's okay for me to go back there?" The redhead asked hopefully. _'Maybe I can apologize to Rika.' _She thought.

"Yeah, Rika's probably walked off somewhere to blow off some steam, I'll go and find her, let you get acquainted with everyone." Takato offered out his hand to Yumichi who gratefully accepted it. The pale blue skirt she had changed into had gotten dirt on it but that was easily dusted off after she had stood up and readjusted her white shirt so it was sitting more comfortably.

"Don't you think that you might have been too hard on the poor girl?" Renamon asked as she appeared from the shadows of the trees alongside the path Rika was walking down.

"No." Was the only response she got.

"She was only trying to make friends. You could've cut her a little slack." Renamon tried once again to get a better reaction from her Tamer and succeeded in a way.

"Well she won't find one in me, she can just have gogglehead." Rika snorted, stopping to sit in the shade of a tree and stare at the ground between her knees.

"Ah, so it's about Takato then." The kitsune stated.

"I never said that." Rika snapped.

"It's what was implied. You think this girl may take the chance you've been waiting for, is that it?" She asked, jumping up to relax in the fork of the tree.

Rika didn't respond this time, she just sat there and Renamon knew that she had struck a chord. Over time everyone in the group had started to notice that Rika and Takato were getting a little closer to each other and it had swiftly dawned on Renamon that Rika felt threatened by Yumichi.

"How can he not like you?" Renamon asked.

"What do you mean?" Came the response.

"It is what it is. How could he not like you? Not too long before your little trip down to the cherry blossoms Takato and I were talking. He thinks that your singing is really wonderful." The kitsune answered.

"What did you say to that?" Rika wondered.

"I told him not to say that too loud in case you kicked him into the next week." Renamon replied, gaining a small chuckle from her partner. "He genuinely cares about you, why else would he have saved you from Parisimon and then refuse to let you go when you fell off of Locomon?"

"He would've done that even if it was Kazu who had been in danger." Rika defended her own case but knew that Renamon would come up with something to rebut her with.

"That would have been a little more awkward if it were Kazu. And why would have he had tried so hard in becoming your friend? Henry's a nice kid but even he didn't try that hard." And that was the kind of answer Rika had been expecting, although the joke wasn't included in her expectations seeing as though joking wasn't really Renamon's forte.

"Rika? Where are you?" Takato called out from a few meters away. He scanned the tree line and noticed the redhead sitting under one of them, most likely with Renamon nearby.

"So, uhh… What was that about?" He asked nervously.

"Just leave it goggles." She warned in a less threatening tone than was expected.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" He offered but Rika just stood up and shook her head before walking away down the path again.

"I'm sure, see you tomorrow." Rika gave a slight wave without looking in his direction and walked away as if he hadn't been there in the first place. Renamon phased down to Takato's side and watched her Tamer carefully.

"And there I was thinking I had gotten through to her." She folded her arms across her chest and leaned up against the nearest tree where she could still have a conversation with Takato.

"What was wrong with her?" He asked Renamon who shook her head.

"That's something that I can't tell you. You have to understand that it's something that Rika will confront you about when she's ready." For a moment both of them stood in the cool spring air and mulled over their next move.

"I guess so…" Takato was the first to break the silence, Renamon made no move to show that she had heard what Takato said but he knew she had.

"You know what she's like. She'll come around, don't worry about it." Renamon reassured him before disappearing to go check on her Tamer before she realised that the kitsune was missing.

"I can't help but worry about her though." Takato stood there and thought over things once more and yet again came up with nothing. "I better get back there before Kazu decides to hit on Yumichi again, hopefully Henry has managed to keep her away from him. It's almost as bad as the time when he had that crush on Ayaka." Takato chuckled and turned on his heel and made his way back towards Guilmon's hideout.

Upon arriving Takato had been informed that Kazu had only asked for her number three more times before she had lied to him and said that she didn't have a mobile, resulting in tactless jokes being made by both Impmon and Terriermon. Kenta and Jeri were trying to supress laughter at the jokes that were being made to no avail. Even Henry was finding it funny, to Kazu's dismay. Muttering something along the lines of 'Henry used to be cool' which Terriermon obviously denied within a second of it being said.

After another good hour or so the sun had shown signs of setting so everyone had decided to part ways. "Do you want me to walk you home?" Takato offered Yumichi.

"It's okay, you can just walk me to the bakery, I know my way back from there. Thanks anyway." She replied as they began their walk home.

* * *

**End of Chapter**

**Slightly quicker plot progression than usual, I know. There's just so much I want to get through with this story I couldn't help myself. Yes, this is based after the final Tamers movie and no, the Drama CD hasn't happened.**

**_(For those who don't know, Yamaki had the hideout concreted in and Henry and his father had found a way to contact the Digimon which eventually led to them coming back before Runaway Locomon. You can use your imagination as to how they came back in this story, or maybe I'll go into it just a little. Who knows?)_**

**_Anyways, don't forget to review, I really appreciate it._**

**_-DW96_**


	3. Is It For The Better?

(Disclaimer: About the only thing for Digimon I own, besides some OC characters are a few of the games and some collectibles from chip packets. So no, I don't own anything from this story besides the OC I'll introduce.)

* * *

**The Problems of Love**

**Chapter 3: Is It For the Better?**

* * *

**_Shinjuku Ward  
_****  
**One Takato Matsuki ran through the streets of Shinjuku in the late hours of the night, the only source of illumination being the dim street lights and what could be seen of the moon considering most of the buildings blocked it out.

His feet pounded heavily against the hard tarmac and the sweat from his constant running drenched his blue jumper. "Where the hell did Guilmon go?" He panted as he darted down a side street.

He had been running for so long, from what, he didn't know. One minute he was in the park with Guilmon, Yumichi and Rika, the next he was attacked by a sudden blur and ran for his life.

He slowed his pace until he came to a complete stop and doubled over in an attempt to catch his breath. His ears being more sensitive in the quiet night heard footsteps creeping up behind him steadily. Still out of breath, he clenched his fist and swung around to hit whoever had been chasing him, only for his hand to be caught by a single white glove.

"What?" He swung with his other fist but another white glove clasped around that one and now he was standing there, incapable of moving his hands and completely helpless.

"Remind me what I had told you, boy." A voice asked.

"I don't even know who you are." Takato responded, desperately trying to free his hands with no success.

"Let me refresh your memory, it had a little something to do with numbers." The voice coaxed.

"I told you, I don't know." He gave up his struggle and decided to see if he could somehow manage to talk his way out of his predicament with the gloves.

"Oh well, seeing as though you don't remember we may as well move along. You see those building on either side of you?" Takato looked to his sides and sure enough, there were only two large buildings now. No street lamps, no moon, no pavement, only the buildings, himself and the gloves.

"On the top of each building is one of your friends. I'm about to do to them what you did to me. The one to your left is Yumichi; the one to your right is Rika." Takato's vision changed and he could see that Yumichi was bound to a wall with a sword getting ever closer to her chest, it changed again and he saw Rika in the exact same situation.

"You have time to save one only, Mr shining knight." The gloves disappeared Takato's hands were free and he was looking between the two buildings and into the abyss of darkness.

"Who do we save Takato?" A raspy voice asked and that's when Takato realized he was now biomerged with Guilmon as Gallantmon.

Takato as Gallantmon ran over to the left building and jumped as high as he possibly could, his armoured feet hitting the side of the structure and creating some solid footholds in the place he had kicked out.

"One last jump should do it…" Gallantmon grunted and leapt as hard as his power would let him; the knight soared up to the top and made his shield appear in his right hand and used it to latch onto the top of the building.

Gallantmon hauled himself up and dedigivolved back into Takato and Guilmon, the little saurian bashed into the handle of the sword, flinging it off its course, causing it to clatter to the ground. Yumichi ran over and embraced the two into a tight hug and cried horrified by the event that almost came to be.

Takato wanted to state some words of comfort but the building moved under his feet. After the initial shock, the three turned around and saw Rika, sword in her chest. Data poured out of her wound, Takato tried to move towards her but she just shook her head, the look on her face one of complete hurt and distrust.

"R-Rika… I'm sorry…" He managed to croak.

"Save it, goggles. Just don't." She sobbed, tears flowing from her eyes as the last remnants of her body floated away. There was no time for remorse as two red sleeved arms with white gloves wrapped themselves around Takato's body, he looked around for Guilmon but now it was just him again, floating in the emptiness.

"What made you choose her over Rika? Would your friends understand your reason, or would they be blinded by anger? Think about your choices carefully because no matter what, whichever one you leave behind I will take as my Tamer and we won't conform to your pettiness of saving people who are too useless and weak to save themselves. No, I think I'll force you and your friends to fight us until you can't possibly take it anymore and you give up." The voice broke out into a bone-chilling laughter that froze Takato into a block of ice. After a few seconds the ice begun to crack and when it was gone Takato was lying in bed, covered in sweat as Guilmon looked on with a curios look.

"What's wrong Takato?" He asked in concern. The sudden way his Tamer had awoken had startled the saurian to the point he thought a Digimon had been attacking.

"Nothing boy, just a bad dream is all." The statement had reassured Guilmon and the dinosaur though nothing more of it and walked out of the doorway to Takato's room and down the hallway.

_'Where's he going?' _The messy brown haired teen looked across to his alarm clock that read eight thirty in the morning. "No wonder, its breakfast. Thank god for Saturdays." Takato yawned loudly and crawled out of bed to change into his usual attire, blue jumper over a white shirt with grey pants. His trainers, sweatbands and goggles along with his ever present D-Arc and cards were next.

* * *

**_Shinjuku Ward – Streets _**

Rika walked down the streets of her hometown with her headphones on and the sound at a height where she could block out most of the sounds of the city as it hustled and bustled around her.

_'Back to our topic of conversation.' _Renamon announced in her head, her always calm voice taking precedence over the music.

_'Ugh, that was three days ago Renamon, leave it be.'_ Rika sighed mentally, the music being completely forgotten now.

_'If you want to be with Takato than you need to tell him.' _Renamon didn't heed Rika's words in the slightest. That's not to say that she's an ignorant Digimon like Terriermon, just that she knows what she can say and when and even though Rika had implied that she hadn't wanted to talk about things, she knew that that's all the red haired teen wanted to talk about.

_'It's not that easy, Renamon. Besides he's been with Yumichi constantly since he met her.' _Rika retorted.

Renamon thought on what she could possibly say to convince Rika that talking to Takato is what she needed to do from the building she was watching her Tamer from. _'It couldn't be helped, she's in his class and he did save her. If anything their closeness should be even more of an incentive to ask him.'_

'Lover boys' probably over me by now anyways. I don't see the point.'

Renamon phased onto a different building to catch up with Rika and noticed that a red haired girl carrying a few boxes was heading straight towards Rika, the latter too caught up in her muses to notice that the other girl was Yumichi.

"Oh Gods…" Renamon moaned as the two redheads collided and both toppled backwards onto their behinds. Rika's headset hit the ground but it luckily went unscathed, but with Yumichi, the two boxes she had been carrying hit the ground and they split open, the fruit in one managed to stay in the box instead of rolling out all over the ground but a few vegetables, some Digimon cards and a small grey cloth fell out of the other one.

Rika picked up her headset and hung it around her neck and looked at the girl she had bumped into. She was wearing a pair of grey jeans with a white button up shirt, her red hair swept partially over her right shoulder as it had mostly fallen out of place when she took the tumble.

"Oh, it's you." Rika groaned; unhappy on whom she had just bumped into.

"I should've watched where I was going, I'm sorry." Yumichi apologized, collecting up the two small boxes she had dropped.

"It's fine." Rika sighed. "Why do you have Digimon cards for?" Rika spotted Yumichi pick up the packet and slide them into her shirts breast pocket alongside the small cloth.

"They're uh… For Takato. I figured it's the least I could give him in return for saving me." She mumbled. Rika mulled over some thoughts for a moment before holding out her hand with her palm facing the clouds. When Yumichi gave her a confused look Rika decided to clarify.

"The cards. Show them to me, please." Rika ordered in a polite manner than one should expect from her, nonetheless Yumichi handed them over and Rika examined the packet carefully. She nodded once and handed the packet back to the other redhead whose green eyes had curiously looked on the whole time. "I'm sure he'll like them." Rika's statement caused Yumichi to smile widely and nod her head.

"I wanted to apologize for the other day too. I didn't mean to make you or anyone else remember those memories." Yumichi picked up her boxes, making sure her hands were covering where they had split so the fruits and vegetables didn't fall out again.

"It's okay, just because I forgive you doesn't mean we're friends though. You'll have to work for it." Rika huffed and walked past the other redhead.

"I'm sorry about Rika's behaviour of late, she'll come around." Renamon reassured as she phased down to Yumichi before disappearing from anyone's view as she had been before whilst she had listened to the conversation between the two redheads.

_'Care to elaborate on what that was all about?' _Renamon asked having found a good vantage post from atop the street signs where she could watch her Tamer for some time without having to move.

_'I don't know what you're talking about…'_ Rika responded in her mind.

_'I was under the assumption that you would bite her head off again.'_ The kitsune clarified.

_'Look, Takato is friends with her so I'll be nice to her for his sake. But if she wants to be friends with me then she'll just have to stay out of my way.'_ Renamon made a move to respond but found that it had become relatively impossible as Rika had now blocked out her thoughts, consequently blocking out Renamon too.

* * *

**_Shinjuku Ward – Shinjuku Park._**

"So Takato, I was thinking about the other day when you saved me and I decided to get you these as a sort of repayment. It's the best I could think of at the time. Sorry it's not much." Yumichi had gone home after she had had her little run in with Rika to drop off the fruits and vegetables and returned to the park in time to meet Henry, Terriermon, Lopmon, Takato and Guilmon. She pulled the packet of cards and the small cloth from her shirt pocket and held them out in her hands which Takato gratefully accepted.

"You didn't have to, but thank you nonetheless." Takato pocketed the cards so he could go over them later on and looked over the small grey cloth. It had a smooth texture to it but he couldn't figure out why. "Uh…"

Yumichi reached up to Takato's goggles and pulled them down over his eyes. He went to ask why but she pulled them off of his head before he could. She grabbed the cloth and wiped down the lenses of his goggles, she then placed them back over his eyes and Takato saw that they were a lot clearer than before.

"Oh wow, I never realized how dirty they were." He noted placing them back in their rightful position atop his muddled hair.

"I figured you hadn't cleaned them in forever by the looks of them." She handed him the coth and walked away to where Lopmon and Terriermon were having an argument, presumably over one of Terriermon's famously tactless jokes.

Takato turned the little cloth around in his palm for a minute before Guilmon interrupted his thoughts. "What's wrong?" He asked, tilting his head slightly to one side.

"I was just thinking of the bad dream I had last night actually." He admitted.

"What was it about?" Guilmon inquired.

_'Eh, what's this about?' _Terriermon wondered to himself. After his argument with Lopmon ended by Yumichi taking her away to a resting Henry, Terriermon decided to shade himself in the branches of a low tree, his massive ears helping him to overhear what Takato and Guilmon were talking about.

He sat there, listening intently to the conversation as it progressed along. At one point Takato stopped talking and the dog-bunny thought he wasn't going to continue but the brief pause ended and Takato finished off his tale. Terriermon sat there for a few moments more with a small smirk on his tiny features.

"Hello, blackmail, my dear old friend." He giggled. The sound of two beeping D-Arcs broke the diminutive Digimon from his musings and he dropped down from the tree and ran over to Henry, followed closely by Takato and Guilmon. Lopmon pulled a confused Yumichi along with her.

"What's going on?" The redhead asked, her green eyes darting from Takato's gold ringed D-Arc to Henry green ringed one.

"A Digimon is bio emerging." Henry declared to the group.

"What's that?" She asked.

"It's when a Digimon is crossing over into our world from the Digital World, like that Piedmon did." Guilmon explained, his voice a snarl and his eyes dilated, showing the virus type side of his nature that clearly wasn't evident in his usual manner.

"Where is it coming in from?" Takato wondered aloud, his question was answered shortly after when a geyser of smoke exploded from near them and shrouded the area in a Digital Field.

"Well, it's not often that the bad guys come to us." Terriermon noted, receiving a look from Henry to be quiet.

Lopmon was shrouded in a pink data sphere and her body was stripped down to a wireframe that morphed into a much larger bipedal rabbit that looked as if it were wearing a corset of some sort.

**"Lopmon, Matrix Digivolve to…**

**Antylamon!"**

"Suzie must have had her cards with her… Terriermon, it's our turn." Henry reached into his pocket and pulled out a card that flashed and turned blue, he slashed it through his D-Arc.

Much like Lopmon, Terriermon was encased in a data sphere although his was green instead of pink. His small body was stripped down to its frame and it morphed into an android form. His thin limbs extended from his rounded green armour and instead of hands, two missile launchers were attached to the ends of his arms.

**"Terriermon, Matrix Digivolve to…**

**Rapidmon!"**

Not a word was said between Takato and Guilmon as Takato reached into his pocket and pulled out the packet of cards that Yumichi had brought him. He opened the top and pulled out the first card that was there.

"Digimodify! Digivolution, activate!" He called out as the card was swiped swiftly through the D-Arc.

Guilmon was encased in a massive sphere of red data and his stripped body grew insanely larger as his limbs extended outwards. Horns prodded out from his skull and a thick white mane appeared from the top of his head and ran down to the bottom of his neck.

**"Guilmon, Digivolve to…**

**Growlmon!"**

As Growlmon emerged from his sphere of data, the Digimon had fully emerged into the real world. It reminded Henry of one of the aquatic dinosaurs that were having said to roam the earth millions of years ago. It was large, white and had four fins as well as some blue spines across some parts of its large back.

"Plesiomon. His attacks are Sorrow Blue, Water Tail Blaster and Hydro Impact Crusher." Takato read the Digimon's data from his D-Arc as he, Henry and Yumichi all moved a little back to make room for the fight that was about to break out.

"That's a mouthful." Rapidmon quipped.

"He's a mega level too." Henry added, completely disregarding his Digimon's joke.

Takato flipped through his pack of cards and found some few cards that he thought may become useful for either him or Henry later on. "Here." He handed two of them to Henry who took them gratefully.

**"Bunny Blades!" **Antylamon ran forwards at a blinding speed, her hands turned into two axes and she slashed Plesiomon across the face but he took the brunt of the attack in his stride. He opened up his mouth and blasted water straight at Antylamon from a point blank range.

**"Hydro Impact Crusher!"**

"We may have to use those cards sooner than expected." Henry noted, Takato agreeing with a determined nod of the head.

"Digimodify! Power activate!" Takato called out. Growlmon felt a surge of power rush through his body, he ran behind Plesiomon who was still focusing on Antylamon and grabbed the aquatic beasts' tail.

"Digimodify! Power activate! Training Bracers, activate!" Henry called, slashing the two cards through one after the other. Two metal braces appeared over the top of Rapidmon's arm launchers and with the extra power he launched them at Plesiomon's neck , successfully tethering it to his body so he couldn't turn his head in a different direction.

"Now, Antylamon!" Growlmon bellowed as his grip loosened on Plesiomon ever so slightly.

**"Treasure Axe!" **Antylamon was about to strike Plesiomon with another axe swipe but because she was heading straight for him in a single line, he took his chance to send off an attack of his own.

**"Hydro Impact Crusher!"**

**"Crystal Sphere!"**

The earth-shattering blast of water never connected with Antylamon because of a pale green sphere that covered the entirety of the rabbit's body, successfully protecting her from any harm.

"What was that?" Yumichi asked whoever happened to be listening.

"Sakuyamon!" Takato cheered loudly, pumping a fist into the air.

"It's Rika." Henry clarified to Yumichi who, as he had suspected, had never heard of the shaman priestess before.

"Are you okay?" Sakuyamon turned around from her position, mid-air to face Antylamon at eye level. Her perfect figure had attracted the full attention of Yumichi and she felt a lot more at ease in Rika's presence.

"I am. Thank you. Shall we?" Antylamon suggested, Sakuyamon smiled and the two looked at Plesiomon dead on.

**"Bunny Blades!"**

**"Fox Drive!"**

Sakuyamon swung her golden staff in front of her and flaming blue spirits that resembled foxes flew from its decorative tip to collide with Plesiomon who started the phase in and out. With the last of his strength he broke free from his tether and Growlmon's grasp, only for Antylamon to come crashing down on him and slash him with her axe hands, deleting the aquatic dinosaur from the world. His data was absorbed evenly between the four Digimon who had all worked together in taking him down.

"If we had gone MegaGargomon, we could've just stepped on him." Rapidmon called out as he turned back into Terriermon and used his large ears as parachutes to float down safely onto Henry's head.

"Yeah, and destroy half of Shinjuku park in the process." Lopmon replied mockingly.

Yumichi stood up and ran over to Sakuyamon who was preparing to dedigivolve. "Hey, uh… Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Renamon replied from the biomerged form.

"Do you uh… Think that Takato likes me?" Yumichi had no idea why she felt so comfortable around Rika right now, but it was a question she had been dying to know because if asked by anyone, she certainly wouldn't deny having feelings for the goggleheaded Tamer.

"You'd just have to ask him." Rika responded.

"Thanks." Yumichi bowed and made her way over the Lopmon, intending on congratulating the little bunny on a job well done.

_'I know you still like him, why do that?' _Renamon asked from somewhere inside of Rika's head.

_'Because, she really likes him. And besides, maybe she'll suit him better than me.' _Rika responded from inside Sakuyamon's data core.

_'I'm not saying that it's a competition, but if you like Takato then you can't just let Yumichi have him. But you do also have to take her feelings into consideration.'_ Renamon stated, wise as ever.

_'I am, that's why I'm letting her have him. It's for the better.'_ Rika replied as their form flashed white and the red haired teen and her kitsune like partner were standing side by side.

"Is it?" Renamon inquired but Rika acted as if the words as flown right above her head.

* * *

**_End of Chapter._**

**There is still so much more to come with this story so stay tuned and I'll have more chapter up within two shakes of a digi-tail.**

**-DW96**


	4. That's Not How I Like My Eggs

(Disclaimer: About the only thing for Digimon I own, besides some OC characters are a few of the games and some collectibles from chip packets. So no, I don't own anything from this story besides the OC I'll introduce.)

* * *

**The Problems of Love**

**Chapter 4: That's Not How I Like My Eggs  
**

* * *

_**Shinjuku Ward – Shinjuku Park**_

It had been a few days since the Plesiomon attack and things had returned back to an order that a certain green eyed redhead was happy with. She'd wake up, go to school where she would hang out with Takato all day, then go home before proceeding to the park where she would get to hear about the others' day's as she often unintentionally ignored them throughout the course of the day.

"You know who we haven't seen in a while?" Kenta spoke up to brake the serenity that had overcome the group of friends who were currently sitting outside the utilitarian shed that Guilmon used to have to hide in while Takato was in school or at home.

"And who would that be?" Yumichi wondered, going over the group and counting Takato, Rika, Henry, Kazu, Kenta, Jeri and Suzie as well as all the Digimon.

"Ryo," The green haired teen simply replied, going back to his losing card battle with Kazu.

"All for the better…" Rika tried to stifle a yawn after her rather crude comment, although she also showed no signs of regretting any of the words she had ever said about Ryo.

"Ryo is the Tamer that lives all the way in Kyushu." Jeri said to Yumichi in response to her confused look but a one of remembrance took that over when she had a brief flashback of his mentioning before.

"He seems… mysterious." The red haired girl said from her position next to Jeri. The two girls had opted to sit outside under the cooling shade of a thick tree while Jeri had asked if she could paint Yumichi's nails, the green eyed beauty reluctantly allowing her.

"In a way, I guess so. We don't know much about Ryo's background other than he was missing for a year in the Digital World. He only managed to get back with us because of Hypnos." Jeri explained, entranced in keeping her strokes steady so she didn't get any nail polish on Yumichi's pale skin.

Yumichi relaxed a little more up against the soft trunk of the tree as she peered around at the Digimon that were scattered about. The two differing dog-bunnies not just in colour, the playful, large, bipedal red saurian that had more than terrified Yumichi when she had heard him snarl and see his eyes dilate. Above them, lazing in the low branches of a tree was the devilish imp Digimon with his unusually brooding 'smiley' face picture on his chest, near Kenta was his little peaceful angel type Digimon, MarineAngemon whom Yumichi had discovered could only speak in a way that Kenta could understand. The bulky bucket of bolts that was the rust coloured Guardromon sat behind his visor wearing Tamer in a sleep-like state.

Last but not least, Yumichi laid eyes on Renamon, the elegant kitsune sat serenely on the ground near her Tamer a few feet away from Yumichi's own position. The redhead was about to ask a question about Renamon to Jeri when Terriermon waltzed up to the redheaded Tamer who seemed annoyed by his presence, but allowed him to speak nonetheless. Even though she knew better than to listen in, the temptation was just too great, besides, even if he was a bit tactless at times, Terriermon could be quite funny.

"Hey there, Rika," He hailed in his usually exultant manner.

"What do you want bunny boy?" She responded, not batting an eyelid in his direction, instead she kept her gaze consistently on Guilmon who was chasing a butterfly around where Takato and Henry were having their own conversation.

"Well, I overheard Takato talking to Guilmon about a dream he had." Terriermon had caught Rika's attention with this statement, although she had thought the bunny was talking about a certain dream Takato had told her about when he had first met her in which she specifically instructed him to never mention again. She was soon to find out otherwise.

Yumichi continued to listen in, Jeri still completely oblivious as she moved to the other side of her friend to start on the nails of her opposite hand. As Terriermon finished his tale quickly, on Rika's insistence, Yumichi felt a sick feeling in her stomach. With the information she had just found out any normal girl would've been happy if they were in her position, so why wasn't she?

_'I guess it just doesn't feel right now…'_ She sighed internally, deciding she had heard enough.

Renamon looked across at Yumichi with an interested gaze, one that Rika had noticed after she had gotten rid of Terriermon after sharing with him a certain image of him dressed as 'Miss Pwetty Pants' courtesy of the one and only, Henry Wong.

"What are you staring at?" The ivory eyed girl inquired.

"Yumichi," Renamon wondered how her Tamer would react to how bluntly she had admitted it, then again she had a feeling that Rika would take it well as over the past few days she had stopped ignoring the girl as much as she had previously done.

"Why? Do you want your claws painted or something?" Rika asked in a teasing tone, one that Renamon took no inclination of hearing, though her Tamer knew she had.

"She heard everything, you know." Rika sighed and lightly hit her head up against the light bark of the tree and thought for a moment.

"Up until where?" She wondered.

"All the way until just before you threatened to post that picture of Terriermon on the internet." Renamon replied, still not taking her eyes off the two girls who were now going over Yumichi's nails to see if they looked any good, which from Jeri's expression they must have.

"You know you're gonna jinx things, Takato?" Henry asked his goggle headed best friend who had just decided to mention on how they hadn't faced a 'Wild One', as the rouge Digimon that appeared were often referred to, in days.

"Yeah probably, I can't help it. Things just get a little boring sometimes is all. I- I'm not saying that I _want_ to fight, even just a little Digimon that wants to get back on his own free will, even that would be better than just standing around every afternoon." Takato and Henry both sighed when they saw Guilmon run head first into a tree over near Suzie and Lopmon in his mad pursuit to catch the butterfly.

"Why was he chasing that thing anyways?" The blue haired, half-Chinese Tamer wondered aloud, not expecting an answer. He received one on the account that Terriermon had returned and the little dog-bunny hardly ever passed up on an opportunity to crack a joke.

"Maybe he thought it was food." Terriermon giggled, Henry choosing to ignore the comment, Takato showing no signs of even hearing it to Terriermon's disappointment.

"How about we make actual plans to do something, even if it's just a lame trip to the mall or that river where we went to on that school outing three years ago when we were attacked by that Deva!" Takato had thoroughly enjoyed the short time he had gotten to spend there and had gotten excited at the sudden memory.

"I suppose it's not a bad idea. It's not that far away either if we were to use our Digimon to get there, especially with the speed Antylamon can run, on top of that she's also got the longest arms so she could carry Suzie, Yumichi, Jeri and Kenta. I could take Rapidmon with Kazu and you and Rika could just biomerge to mega. Sakuyamon can fly and Gallantmon is anything but slow." Henry added, taking no time at all in agreeing with his friend's suggestion.

Henry gathered everyone around at the entrance to the shed with the help of Terriermon's loud mouth, Kazu mumbling something along the lines of 'Gee, can you yell that any louder? I'm not sure Australia heard you'.

"So, Henry and I were wondering if any of you were willing to go and do something different tomorrow after school instead of just coming here all afternoon." Takato asked the group as a whole, not receiving an answer Henry decided to continue.

"Back when one of the Devas attacked us, Kazu, Kenta, Takato, Jeri and I were on an excursion for school up at a lake near the outskirts of Shinjuku and we figured that with the Digimon's help, it'd be easy for us to get there and back."

"Could I come Henwee?" Suzie piped up from where she was sitting next to Jeri and Impmon. The little brunette was ecstatic when the confirming nod came from her older brother that she hugged Lopmon so tightly that the dog-bunny almost suffocated, thanking Jeri when she convinced Suzie not to hold her so tight in future.

"Did these plans involve me at any chance?" A familiar teasing voice piped up from the entrance to the shed. Rika put her palm to her forehead in exasperation at the voice while Kazu had a completely opposite reaction, his eyes widening in the presence of his 'over-glorified' hero, as Rika puts it.

"It's good to see you again, Ryo. You're welcome to come if you want to." Takato offered, the legendary Tamer nodded in his agreement.

"Sounds great, I'd love to!" He cheered.

Henry and Takato then thought over some of the necessities that would need to be packed for anyone who decided to make the travel. Things like towels and swimwear were obvious things that Rika deemed pointless at mentioning but other things like a pair of floaties, which Jeri so kindly offered to provide seeing as though she had one, for Suzie and inflatable balls were brought up as well. After a few more moments of talking and answering questions were over, the group had decided on travel arrangements, who would ride with who et cetera.

* * *

_**Shinjuku Ward – Outskirts of Shinjuku**_

Suzie, Yumichi, Jeri and Kenta all stepped off of Antylamon's long arms, MarineAngemon popped out of Kenta's shirt pocket and chirped happily. As the former rabbit deva dedigivolved back into Lopmon, Suzie decided that now was the time to complain about having left her bag back at the park, even though she had realized half way through the trip.

"I weft my bag back at the park!" She wailed as the sound of twin jet thrusters echoed on the breeze, not long after Rapidmon arrived with Henry and Suzie's' bag in his arms, Guardromon touched down and Kazu wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Uh… Guardromon, where's Kazu?" Kenta asked the rust coloured robot as Jeri and Yumichi began to unpack some towels from their bags and laid them around the small clearing that settled in cosily amongst the forest with a lake running through it over to its left area.

Kazu burst out of Guardromon's chest compartment, effectively scaring the heck out of Kenta, his glasses fell off in surprise but MarineAngemon retrieved them happily for his Tamer.

"I figured since Guardromon had the space and I didn't really want to ride on his back, I'd utilize it." Kazu chuckled as he removed his shirt and begun to untie his shoelaces.

Kenta began to follow suit as his friend had finished untying his laces, when Henry thought he heard a splash come from the nearby lake. He ran over to check it out while Rapidmon dedigivolved to Terriermon, upon reaching the lake, a drenched Ryo Akiyama swam to the surface and greeted his blue haired friend.

"Hey Henry! The waters so cool!" He shouted before diving under and out of site. The water wasn't exactly dirty, it was relatively clear but it must've been deep if Ryo were able to swim far enough under for Henry to lose sight of him easily. Henry unzipped his orange vest and removed his black shirt, after removing his black jeans to reveal his tan board shorts, he did has Ryo had said an jumped into the water, followed closely by Terriermon, Kazu and Kenta.

Guardromon was moving over to where Jeri, Yumichi, Lopmon and Suzie were when Cyberdramon emerged from the trees and briefly nodded to the other cyborg type Digimon.

"Boys are always in such a rush." Jeri sighed. Suzie ran off after Jeri had so kindly blown up the girls floaties for her, having lived in such a suburban city, the little Tamer hadn't really had many chances to be taught how to swim.

Screams were heard from the boys that were already in the water when a colossal column of water was shot up, the water blast sprayed over Sakuyamon who had just flown over the tree line and into the clearing. With a growl that sounded like Rika the shaman landed next to the lake and dedigivolved to reveal Renamon and Rika, who was already in her bikini.

An unusual sight to the boys who had seen her, all blushing they quickly turned away and begun to do something else to occupy their minds so Rika wouldn't hit them. Suzie cannonballed into the water but was surprised when she came floating back up to the top faster than expected, right on top of Gallantmon's head. No one had noticed the white knight leap up sky high and come crashing down into the water, however everyone had noticed the massive splash that was the result of the landing.

In a flash of light, Guilmon and Takato, who was already changed as well, were replaced with Gallantmon. Takato had noticed Rika but didn't notice that he had been aimlessly staring at her, resulting in a clump of mud to be thrown at his face from the fiery redhead.

"Forget it lover boy." She teased, jumping into the fray while Renamon phased out of existence and reappeared in the tree where Cyberdramon and Guardromon rested.

"Why aren't you going in, Lopmon?" Jeri asked the brown and pink dog-bunny, who looked up to her with a content smile on her face.

"I'm fine; I might join in later on." Lopmon lay back on the towel that Suzie had put out for her before she had joined her brother and friends in the lake under the blazing afternoon sun.

"Exactly what I was thinking too." Yumichi took off her white shirt and light blue skirt and set them down next to her cream bag. Jeri admired the girls' blue bikini set and noticed how it had remarkably resembled Rika's red one that Jeri had managed to catch a glimpse of after watching Sakuyamon fly over the clearing.

Jeri removed her yellow over shirt and her green dress to reveal her black one piece swimsuit with blue slashes down the sides. She removed her green hair band and precariously placed it on top of her bag, hoping that a sudden gust of wind wouldn't be rude enough to blow it away.

"So Jeri?" Yumichi asked aloud as she looked at the pale blue cloudless sky.

"Hmmm?" Jeri mumbled, lying down next to her green eyed friend.

"What was it like to have a Digimon?" She asked, being cautious as to not bring up any more ill feelings.

"When I first met Leomon I knew that he would be my partner and I think I went a little too far with it, I chased him around most of Shinjuku Park before he managed to lose me," Jeri paused shortly to chuckle and give off a light hearted sigh. "Then when one of the Devas tried to attack me, Leomon jumped in to save me and that's when my D-Arc appeared. It was really fun; Leomon was such a nice Digimon. He always took care of everyone else before he thought of himself."

"Much like you, Jeri." Lopmon said, the brunette nodding slightly in response.

"I'm sure he was a brave Digimon. What about you Lopmon, how did you become Suzie's partner?" Yumichi asked.

"Well I used to be one of the Devas. It was my job to guard one of the bridges that lead into Zhuquiaomon's fortress and one day Suzie just appeared out of nowhere and asked if she could have a piggyback. At first I refused but she was persistent so I gave in. I had a soft spot for her and once her D-Arc appeared and confirmed that I was her partner, I was stripped of my Deva status. It took a while but Henry grew to accept it." Lopmon explained.

Renamon sat in the shade of the tree and looked down at Cyberdramon who was watching Ryo carefully, as if something in him wanted to keep Ryo away from everyone else. _'He is always so brooding,'_ she mused. Her gaze shifted around the clearing and spotted Rika splashing water on Takato. An inflatable ball that Kazu had blown up beforehand had hit her in the head, courtesy of Kenta, even though he hadn't meant it. She swam right over to the green haired teen and dunked him underwater, shooting Kazu a warning glare just in case he tried anything.

"So you think Takato likes Rika?" Yumichi turned her head to face Jeri who slowly opened her eyes as she registered that the question had been asked directly to her.

"I think so. Ever since the Parisimon invasion those two had gotten really close, but right now they don't seem as close as they were, not that I'm saying they hate each other or anything." Jeri replied. Yumichi's eyes flittered across the clearing and she saw how much fun everyone was having and decided that instead of mulling over her thoughts at this moment, she'd join in and have fun too.

"Terriermon, look out!" Guilmon laughed as the little bunny was forced under the waves created by Yumichi after she had jumped into the water. The aforementioned redhead was still underwater and after getting over her initial fear of opening her eyes, she snapped them apart and looked around at the smooth rocks clumped with mud that made up the bottom of the lake. At first glance she thought she saw a large white rock but she was quickly running out of breath so she was forced to resurface.

_'That was a pretty rock, maybe I could take it home.'_ She thought as she took in a large lungful of air and dived down. She kicked at a steady pace until she had reached the bottom and removed some of the other rocks to get at the one she had seen before. It was bigger than she had originally thought but she still wanted it nonetheless.

She surfaced near Takato and Rika and lugged the rock to the edge of the water. She placed it on the bank and readjusted her bikini so it stopped clinging to her body and sat up next to it. The green eyed ginger tossed it around in her hands and noted it lovely, smooth texture.

"What's that you got there?" Takato asked, Rika turned her head and also noticed the white rock that Yumichi had collected.

"I smell a Digimon…" Guilmon sniffed the air, gaining everyone's attention. The little saurian swam around confused for a few seconds until his nose had led him to the rock that Yumichi was cradling in her arms.

"I just found it at the bottom of the lake, I thought it looked pretty." She explained to everyone who had been giving her curios looks.

"Well, looking at it now it kind of does resemble a Digiegg, although I've never heard of one that's completely white and sitting at the bottom of a lake, the thing is drenched." Henry rumoured.

"I don't like my eggs drenched, I prefer them boiled." Terriermon giggled along with Guilmon who proceeded to agree with him wholeheartedly.

"So what do we do?" Kazu wondered aloud to no one in particular, happy for anyone to answer his question. Yumichi rubbed the egg lightly and it shook in her hands, the movement being spotted by Renamon and Cyberdramon who had made their way over to see why everyone had gathered in the one spot for. The egg cracked more and it shone with a bright light.

"I don't know but it must be hatching now." Ryo gasped, having to shield his eyes like everyone else, except for Takato who could see everything clearly with his goggles down. He saw a small white Digimon that looked like a Ping-Pong ball with wings and a large white horn looking ornament on its head.

* * *

_**End of Chapter**_

_**Ah, I do so love cliff-hangers, don't you? What Digimon do you think it is? Why the heck was it at the bottom of the lake in the first place? (Actually, even I haven't figured that one out yet…) Also, it's listed as Outskirts because I couldn't find/ remember the name of where they had gone in that episode.**_

_**Tune in next time to find out as our rag-tag group continues on in this story.**_

_**-DW96**_


	5. Mega-Mon

(Disclaimer: About the only thing for Digimon I own, besides some OC characters are a few of the games and some collectibles from chip packets.)

* * *

**The Problems of Love**

**Chapter 5: Mega-Mon**

* * *

_**Shinjuku Ward – Outskirts of Shinjuku**_

"So what do we do?" Kazu wondered aloud to no one in particular, happy for anyone to answer his question. Yumichi rubbed the egg lightly and it shook in her hands, the movement being spotted by Renamon and Cyberdramon who had made their way over to see why everyone had gathered in the one spot for. The egg cracked more and it shone with a bright light.

"I don't know but it must be hatching now." Ryo gasped, having to shield his eyes like everyone else, except for Takato who could see everything clearly with his goggles down. He saw a small white Digimon that looked like a Ping-Pong ball with wings and a large gold horn looking ornament on its head.

"Whoa…" Takato breathed as he looked into the Digimon's little button black eyes, it blinked back at him and he had the strange sensation to keep staring but recovered from his stare after the light died down. He could hear a few gasps come from some of his friends but his attention had been refocused on the little white Digimon in Yumichi's arms.

"It's a Digimon." Kenta noted rather obviously, which Rika didn't mind pointing out in her usual fashion.

"Gee, thanks Kenta. I wasn't sure everyone had noticed yet." She said sarcastically as she swam over closer to the bank to get a better look, mindlessly bumping into Takato on her way.

"What kind of Digimon is it?" Ryo wondered, he had never seen a Digimon like it, even with all his adventures when he spent a year alone in the Digital World with Cyberdramon. The aforementioned Dragon Digimon was eyeing the little Digimon curiously.

"Here, Takato…" Jeri handed the boy a towel as he got up and out of the water, he dried off his hands and Jeri handed him his D-Arc. He wasn't too sure it mattered if his hands were wet but he wasn't going to risk it. He held his golden rimmed Digivice up to the newborn and waited with baited breath for it to bring up the data, hoping it wouldn't end up like Guilmon without any data. Not that he minded their Digivices being unable to pick up the saurian's data.

"Here we go," he exclaimed as the screen flashed to life and showed him a holographic screen with the Digimon's data. "Puttimon, a Baby level Digimon."

"Puttu!" It squealed, nuzzling into Yumichi's wet arms and stomach. The fur rubbing up her stomach made the green eyed teen giggle and Rika to roll her eyes.

"Does this mean that you have a Digimon now?" Kazu wondered, failing to see a D-Arc anywhere to signal that it was indeed the girl's partner. Hearing this, Yumichi looked down at the cute little Digimon with joy in her eyes at the concept of having her own Digimon, she pet its head and made it purr like a cat.

"I don't mean to be a downer or anything but I don't think so," Henry began, receiving weird looks from everyone before continuing. "Let's look at it like this, from a way we already know. Ai and Mako, Kazu, Kenta, Suzie and Jeri had to form bonds with their Digimon when they met them, making the D-Arc appear to signal their partnership. The same goes for Ryo, Rika and I, we had to bond in some way or another with Cyberdramon, Renamon and Terriermon. Takato being the only one who didn't seeing as though he created Guilmon and they were bonded the moment his egg was created. I'm sorry, Yumichi, but just because it hatched in your arms and it's taken a liking to you, until you can form a full bond with Puttimon you won't be able to make him or her Digivolve."

"Just take some of her hope away why don't you?" Rika muttered loud enough so that everyone could hear her comment, getting a glare from Henry. He hadn't meant to offend her or steal away any of the teens' hope, just pointing out what it was she had to do in order to be Puttimon's official partner.

"He is right though, Rika. Yumichi will just have to spend time with and care for him or her and they'll bond eventually." Ryo defended the blue haired Tamer, getting a scowl from Rika.

"Of course you'd agree with him…" She muttered, Renamon and Terriermon being the only ones who heard that time.

"So I just care for him? Just like a pet?" Yumichi wondered, trying to think that if there was anything special she would need to do.

"I'd suggest you buy a ton of food." Kenta advised the girl giving him a curious look.

"Yeah, if Guilmon and Terriermon are anything to go off of then he'll be a bottomless pit." Takato joked, eliciting a 'hey' from Terriermon.

"I happen to have quite a slim figure compared to Guilmon." Terriermon giggled, twirling as he jumped up to Henry's head, forcing him down into the water with his weight.

"Whatever, Tubbymon." Guilmon snickered, Renamon eyeing the saurian with interest. She had heard Guilmon make the unintentional joke before but never had she heard him attempt a rebuttal against Terriermon who looked to be having too much fun dodging Henry's grasp to notice.

"Hey guys! What's going on?" A cheerful little voice called as he flew over, his big white, purple tipped ears extended so that he could fly. He floated aimlessly as he looked around at almost every Tamer there was in Shinjuku, his purple tipped hands and feet hanging limply in the air.

"Hi Calumon!" Jeri replied, grabbing and giving the In-Training Digimon a hug which he returned with a giggle.

"Pu puttu?" Puttimon murmured in a questioning tone as he looked around Yumichi's arm and spotted Jeri let Calumon go. The little In-Training took off and was flying at eye level with Jeri. Puttimon bounded out of Yumichi's lap, surprising the girl as she tried to reattain her grip on the baby with no success.

She called out to Puttimon as the baby bounced over to Calumon, once he reached the green eyed In-Training, he started to bounce up to his height again and again. The two little Digimon giggled and Jeri gave her word that she would watch the two energetic Digimon for everyone.

"Are you sure? You haven't even come into the water yet, I could do it." Henry offered but Jeri just shook her head politely, directing the two youngest Digimon over to the towels that were now in the shade thanks to the new positioning of the sun.

"So how do you plan on bonding with him?" Kenta inquired to Yumichi who was just slipping back into the water.

"I'm not sure, how did you bond with MarineAngemon?" Yumichi asked, her gaze shifting to the pink little angel in question. He was flitting about the top of the water and dipping his tail into it every now and again, squealing in delight. Kenta couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"He actually chose me, I found him in my pocket at one point and told him to get away because the area was too dangerous, I didn't know at the time that he was a mega level. Then he appeared again and yeah…" Kenta trailed off, Yumichi looked at the little Digimon again, pulling the hair away from her ears and tucking it behind them as she wondered how such a small Digimon could possibly be at the mega level and still retain it cuteness.

"I think that Henry and Ryo were right. With good care and feeding I think that Puttimon will accept me as his or her Tamer. By the way, how do you know that MarineAngemon is a boy?" Yumichi questioned, the Digimon was too pink to be a boy in her eyes.

"I guess it's just some of the things he says, girls like you, no offence intended, just think that he's a girl because he is pink. You should hear some of the jokes he makes about Kazu, the look on his face his priceless because only I can understand what he's saying." Kenta laughed at that point, remembering some of the jibes his diminutive Digimon had made about his best friend before.

"Look out!" Rika called as Terriermon came soaring towards the ginger and the raven haired teen. They swam back a few feet as Takato came up from under the water, goggles on, and caught him in mid-air. Terriermon gave a sigh of relief before shouting at the top of his lungs as Takato threw the bunny to Ryo, Lopmon and Cyberdramon laughing amusedly from the shore, although Cyberdramon was more just chuckling because of how high Ryo had launched him when throwing the bunny back to Rika.

"Heeenrrryyyyy!" He wailed as he was soaring through the air back to Takato who had to jump to catch him. "Heeeellllp meeeee!"

"What was that?" Henry asked, lightly smiling at the situation.

"I said help me!" He wailed again as Ryo caught him with a grunt.

"My ears aren't as big as yours, Terriermon. You'll have to speak up." He said, even though everyone, including Terriermon, knew that he could hear the bunny perfectly.

Takato was getting ready to catch Terriermon again when he thought he heard a light beeping noise coming from somewhere near him and Kazu, or possibly even far away, it was hard for him to tell at that brief second. He was jolted out of his thoughts when Terriermon came crashing into his head and the two were sent under. The bunny took his chance to escape while he could, using his large ears to help him swim away. Takato rose up out of the water and heard Rika scolding him for ruining their fun, Ryo and Henry laughing at what had happened. He ignored it all and tried to refocus his ears to hear what was going off. Renamon, Cyberdramon and Guilmon noticed this and all three tried to listen in for it again. Yumichi, Kazu and Kenta stopped their conversation after Ryo, Rika and Henry had all decided to listen in for what everyone else was. Jeri noticed her friends weren't making a ruckus anymore and decided to go on over with Suzie, who had gotten out before the Terriermon throwing game was begun. Jeri could hear it a little clearer than most as she neared towards where Puttimon and Calumon had been playing in some bushes.

Renamon phased out from her nearby roosting in a tree and landed over near the bush, she dug her hand in and searched around for a minute, eventually pulling out Takato's beeping D-Arc that had been scattered over there whilst Puttimon and Calumon had been playing, the former bouncing on its side, accidentally sending it into the bushes where not many from the group could hear it. Takato pulled himself out of the water and looked at it, still in Renamon's hands.

"It's obviously a bio-emergence. But it's not saying where it is exactly…" He sighed. "Can you sense it Renamon?" He asked the kitsune who gave the D-Arc to the boy, he had just wiped his hands on the towels Jeri was handing out to everyone. She closed her eyes and listened in intently, for just any inkling of noise that sounds unfamiliar, she had gotten used to the sounds around her so it would be easy for her to pick out something unusual.

"How about you, boy?" Guilmon raised his nose into the air as high as he could, straightening out his body so he was raised higher up and now stood just a head shorter than his Tamer who had grown taller with age.

Rika walked over beside Yumichi and the two redheads waited patiently, surprising for Rika, for the two Digimon to sense something when Renamon's ears twitched at the same moment Guilmon's nose did. They looked at each of their Tamers, Renamon's eyes wide and Guilmon's' dilated, his throat emitting a snarl from deep down.

"Look out!" the two cried in unison as Guilmon tackled Takato the ground and Renamon took Rika as well as Yumichi into her arms and phased away to a better distance. Cyberdramon pushed Ryo out of the way and grabbed Jeri from behind as Henry grabbed Suzie's hand and jumped back to where Terriermon and Lopmon were standing with Kazu, Kenta and their partners plus a cowering Calumon and Puttimon.

As all of this was completed, a tall blurred yellow figure dashed out from the trees and launched his knee out to the spot where Takato and the two redheads once stood. Before anyone could come to their senses and obtain a good look it sped across the clearing and disappeared into the tree line. The Digimon, excluding Calumon and Puttimon, took a defensive line in front of their Tamers. The two aforementioned baby and In-Training Digimon jumping into Yumichi's and Jeri's arms respectively.

"Is it gone?" Kazu breathed, the growl emitting from Cyberdramon and Guilmon giving him his answer.

Ryo looked as if he were about to suggest something but stopped on that motion when the yellow figure waltzed out from the tree-line on the other side of the clearing. Unlike before he wasn't in any sort of rush and took his sweet time, trying Rika's patience thin. His golden boots pointed up at the ends slightly and stopped just under his knees. A golden belt surrounded his waist with studs' jutting out of it at regular intervals, just above that was his large silver chest plate with a large cross imbedded in it. On either side of the chest plate were large golden shoulder guards extending into a straight golden forearm that showed no signs of him being able to bend his arms, not that he needed to bend his arms considering the large crimson and silver cannons more than made up for that lack of movement. Extending out and around from his back were four rectangular silver cannons and to top it off he was larger than all of them, in both body mass and height, although he wasn't anywhere at a MegaGargomon height.

"Who is that?" Jeri gasped, if asked by anyone she certainly wouldn't be scared to admit that just the appearance of that Digimon was enough to make her want to run away, but the determined looks on Rika's, Ryo's and the worried yet still equally determined one's of Henry and Takato were enough to make her feel confident that if this Digimon attacked then her friends could take it on.

"Trouble, that's who. It's MusoKnightmon, a mega level Digimon that's a jogress of DarkKnightmon and Tuwarmon. His attacks are just as devastating as his appearance. Gouradarai Gun, Chouriki Meidouha and Majuryoku Jubakujin." Henry read, he had to admit that he was awestruck at the power this Digimon seemed to be emanating, even though he wasn't a Digimon he still felt like he could sense it and that sent chills down his spine, though he was sure he wasn't the only one.

"So, you are the Tamers of the human world." The large knight scoffed, the Digimon tensing when he spoke. "You don't look like much." He chuckled darkly, raising one of his cannons up.

Ryo could sense that Cyberdramon was itching to get in and fight but even Ryo had to know when they were facing a strong opponent and couldn't just send Cyberdramon in to get his arse handed to him on a silver platter. _'I wonder if I still have that card…'_ He thought as he saw Takato and Rika fall back onto their Digimon to begin the biomerge process. Jeri watched on as Henry decided to Digivolve Terriermon into Rapidmon instead of merging with him, she wondered why but was brought out of her thoughts when she heard Kazu muttering to himself and tried to listen in.

Kazu held his deck of cards in left hand, his right one clenched around the edges of his Digivice. "I just wish that we could be of more help. Every Digimon lately has been either Ultimate or Mega levels. Guardromon is good but I'm not risking his safety if he can't do anything more than be a distraction." Kazu's words must have been heard by some other force as one of the cards in his deck flashed, catching his eye. He picked it out of his deck quickly and saw that it was blue. The teen smirked and slashed it through, calling out the famous words that signalled a Matrix Digivolution.

As Guardromon was encased in a brown sphere of data, Gallantmon and Sakuyamon brandished their weapons alongside Rapidmon who had finished beforehand and was ready to strike when his friends were. Ryo drew the card that he had been looking for and held it in his hand, ready to use it when needed. The Legendary Tamer was briefly distracted when he saw Kazu walk up to the front defensive line alongside an Andromon when he realized that he must have managed to help Guardromon Digivolve to his Ultimate level for the first time since becoming the robot's partner.

Suzie looked affrightedly out from behind her older brothers legs and then back to Lopmon. The girl took a few deep breaths and after receiving a reassuring smile from Henry she nodded to Lopmon who had digivolved into her Ultimate form of Antylamon, the large brown rabbit now being the tallest Digimon on the battlefield, MusoKnightmon being only a head shorter than her. Suzie gasped when she noticed that her Digimon and the bad Digimon were almost the same height as the towering trees of the forest.

"Impressive, let's see how you all fare. **Chouriki Meidouha!**" His cannons started to charge up with golden energy as all humans scattered off to stand in the safety of the trees. Ryo nodded to Cyberdramon who would have given him a reassuring look if his eyes weren't hidden behind the metal plate that covered his face.

"Spread out!" Gallantmon ordered in the dual voices of Takato and Guilmon. The white knight dashed off to one side alongside Andromon while Sakuyamon and Rapidmon flew up and into the air. Cyberdramon and Antylamon positioned themselves to the left and unable to contain him anymore, Cyberdramon dashed around so that he could position himself behind MusoKnightmon who had almost charged his cannons fully.

Ryo slashed the card he had been holding onto and it cackled as its data was read and applied to the cyborg dragon man Digimon. "Digimodify! Goliath, activate!" The Legendary Tamer called out as Cyberdramon grew to the height of Antylamon and MusoKnightmon. He slid his arms under the knight's and tried to raise them so that the cannons were pointed upwards but everyone could see that even Cyberdramon was struggling. Being the only one that was the same size as them, Antylamon rushed over so that they could each hold one arm upwards. With a lot of struggling on the two Ultimate's parts, they managed to make the cannons fire straight up into the air, they exploded and Sakuyamon realized that that one attack could have possibly wiped them all out in one hit and that they should try and stop him from using that attack at any cost.

Unable to hold his size any longer as the boosts effects wore off, Cyberdramon reverted to his normal size. Antylamon brought one hand back and it formed into the shape of an axe, she slashed it across MusoKnightmon's back, doing little to no damage at all as Andromon followed up with an attack of his own.

**"Bunny Blades!"**

**"Lightning Blade!"**

MusoKnightmon, cannons smoking, turned to face Antylamon and gave her a nasty whack to the side, Suzie crying out for her partner to be okay. Rapidmon flew down to travel alongside Gallantmon and the two were beside each other for a short amount of time before Gallantmon hopped onto his back and the two took off into the sky. With a signal from Rapidmon, Gallantmon jumped as high as he could into the air.

**"Rapid Fire!"**

Rapidmon let off his twin missiles as gravity finally started to take its effect on Gallantmon. As the knight plummeted to the ground he brought his shield up to face it straight down, right at MusoKnightmon's head. Once charged fully with power the bright beam of pulsing energy was released from it.

**"Shield of the Just!"**

The attack hit the large knight directly and while he was feeling slightly disoriented, Gallantmon landed on his shoulder and then to the ground near all his friends in the trees. Henry watched the battle with continuing interest and ever present curiosity.

_'Why isn't he moving like he was before? He seemed so fast and so agile, although it could've been that we just hadn't gotten a proper view of how fast he was actually moving. But that doesn't explain why he hasn't moved at all except to turn around…' _Henry continued to strategize mentally while Ryo slashed a card to help boost Cyberdramon's power. The cyborg flew in alongside Rika and delivered a painfully strong 'Desolation Claw' into the back of MusoKnightmon's head, Sakuyamon followed up with her own attack, striking in the same spot as the cyborg in an attempt to wear his head down so that he might start to lose focus, and in the best case, fall unconscious.

"Fools…" MusoKnightmon muttered, his body glowing with a bright light.

"What's going on?" Suzie wondered from her spot behind Henry who was still trying to think of something useful that could help everyone. Jeri shook her head as Kenta just sighed for the moment before shifting his gaze to MarineAngemon.

"Get ready buddy, I can see someone getting hurt soon." He said, the little angel took on a determined look and Yumichi had started to worry, forgetting all about how much her friends could actually get hurt as a result of the battle.

"I hope no one gets seriously injured." She fretted, holding Puttimon closer. The little Digimon had gotten over his initial fear and was now just content to snuggle into the redheads arms.

The light that shrouded MusoKnightmon grew larger, significantly larger and as it faded he called out;

"MegaMusoKnightmon!"

"I thought there wasn't a level than Mega?" Sakuyamon roared angrily in Rika's voice down to her friends.

"He isn't!" Henry called back. "It's just like Gallantmon: Crimson Mode, it's just another form that alters the level of power he has!" Henry had managed to pull the information up on his D-Arc and was now in the process of calling Rapidmon back down to him.

"If only I could somehow transform into Crimson Mode…" Gallantmon sighed, noting that MegaMusoKnightmon had yet to even make a move.

Rapidmon and Cyberdramon had flown back to their partners, the former dedigivolving back to Terriermon before both Tamer begun the process of biomerging with their Digimon and soon enough the cybernetic Justimon and colossal powerhouse MegaGargomon had joined the other Megas and two Ultimates.

MegaMusoKnightmon could now look MegaGargomon directly in the eyes, having retained the same appearance, just growing to the walking military's size.

"Impressive…" Terriermon joked, he would've received a glare from Henry at any other time but now the half Chinese boy was trying to focus himself so that he could try and find a weak spot. Both MegaMusoKnightmon and MegaGargomon were surprised when Gallantmon, Justimon and Sakuyamon were up at face level with MegaMusoKnightmon, the former two having jumped as high as they could, Justimon able to be slightly higher than his white knight counterpart.

**"Spirit Strike!"** Four kitsune like apparitions appeared and struck the knight in the face, after taking a step back, the massive knight noticed that Justimon was now there, about to attack.

**"Thunder Clap!" **One of Justimon's arms became larger and more flattened out as he slammed it into the knights face, and catching on quickly, MegaGargomon prepared a fist to take the next attack, Gallantmon landing safely on his shoulder.

**"Mega Barrage!" **The large robotic dog-bunny let loose every round of ammunition he had directly into his opponents face, Antylamon following up from behind with a 'Bunny Blades' attack to the back of his head. Andromon was next in line to attack, sending a 'Lighting Blade' at the same point his friend before him had hit, the former Deva having lifted the android up there for a better aim.

**"Shield of the Just!" **Gallantmon's voice echoed as the large wave was blasted into the knight's face, causing him to stumble back a little. Instead of the grunting pain that they all expected, he was perfectly fine and had raised his arm cannons to start charging his most powerful attack once again.

**"Chouriki Meidouha!"**

_'If he lets loose that attack before we can redirect it then we're all dead. He has to have a weak spot, everyone does…'_ Henry mused, looking over the knight's body while his friends tried to stop MegaMusoKnightmon from setting of his attack, Gallantmon and Justimon tried to cat of his cannons, to no effect. Sakuyamon and Andromon, with the help of Antylamon also had no luck trying to disrupt the charge by firing their own attacks inside of the cannons.

Henry snapped out of his thoughts and had a sudden revelation, maybe the cross on his armour wasn't just for show, not just a decorative pattern or for some symbolic meaning. '_We'll just have to try and hope for the best…'_

"Everyone! The cross on his chest! Aim for that at the same time!" He roared in his dual voices so that everyone would get into gear quicker.

**"Bunny Blades!"**

**"Lightening Blade!"**

**"Justice Burst!"**

**"Amethyst Mandala!"**

**"Shield of the Just!"**

After Gallantmon's attack had hit home, the chest plate had pierced open slightly to reveal his exposed orange skin underneath, it had suffered minor damage and MegaGargomon was about to change that with only seconds left until the cannons fired right at his face.

**"Giant Missile!" **The two missiles from MegaGargomon's shoulders took off and headed directly for MegaMusoKnightmon's exposed chest, hitting home they caused a large explosion that burst a large hole in the colossal knight's chest. The light from the cannons died away as all Digimon around begun to absorb the mass amounts of data that was coming off of him.

Puttimon liked the idea of what the other Digimon was doing so it bounded out of a surprised and frightened Yumichi's arms. Puttimon concentrated as hard as it could and managed to direct some of the data flow to itself, the angelic Digimon hovered slightly in the air, giggling in delight. After everyone, including Puttimon, had finished absorbing all of the data, Yumichi regained herself and ran over to the little Digimon and scooped him up into her arms, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Please don't ever scare me like that again, Puttimon. I was afraid you were going to run away." She said sadly, pulling the baby closer to her exposed stomach.

"Puttu tu…" Puttimon said in what the newly dedigivolved people and Digimon assumed to be a reassuring tone. She raised the baby higher up to see the huge smile plastered across its face and couldn't help smile back at it.

"You're just the cutest thing ever." She sighed, letting him nudge into her chest, Ryo and Takato couldn't help but stare at how she was comfortable with the little Digimon doing that, earning them both a slug on the shoulder from a disgusted Rika.

"Don't be pigs you two, I knew I didn't want to wear an exposing swim suit for a reason." She scorned before making her way over to kneel down on one knee beside Yumichi and place a hand on her shoulder. "You look after Puttimon and I can guarantee he will look after you with everything he's got." Yumichi picked up on how Rika had referred to Puttimon as a male multiple times.

"I promise, but how are you so sure he's a boy?" She asked, her green eyes being looked into deeply by Rika's lavender. Rika simply shrugged her shoulders after standing up and replied nonchalantly.

"Call it a gut feeling or just a guess." She smirked, walking over to where she had sat her bag down upon arriving and pulling her clothes out and sliding her shirt on over her bikini.

"Why are you doing that for?" Jeri wondered, Rika pointed up to the sky and all the Tamers realized that their battle had taken longer than expected as the sun was a lot lower in the sky than it had been before.

"We still got plenty of time!" Kazu called out.

"Every one of our Digimon that we used to get here just fought a tough battle, Kazu. They need rest which means that we'll have to walk at least half way back before they're ready to digivolve again. By that time it'll be getting dark out and I don't want to keep Suzie out any later than need be." Henry replied, he along with Takato, Ryo, Kenta and Yumichi doing the same as Rika. Kazu huffed indignantly and reluctantly joined his friends with Jeri, the girl giggling at him because of his small selfish moment at wanting to stay longer.

"You and Rika fought really well." Yumichi complemented her goggled friend and leader of the Tamers. Takato gave her a quick smile as he pulled on a pair of loose grey trousers over his trunks.

"We couldn't have done it without Henry, Ryo and the other Digimon. Even Suzie and Kazu." Takato chuckled, trying to find his shirt out of his bag.

"I know, I be it's exciting to be part of a Digimon, you four are really lucky." Yumichi pulled her white shirt over her shoulders and buttoned it up, her hair making the back of it wet as well as her right shoulder when she pulled it over in its usual style. Takato quickly shot a look over at Rika who was pulling on a pair of baggy blue pants and noticed that her hair was still held tightly in place by a hair band but it didn't have its normal flared spike to it as the water made her hair heavy.

"It's a really amazing feeling, especially the first time." Ryo answered, Takato still out of it and looking at Rika. Yumichi absentmindedly answered Ryo, she wasn't sure what she had said but it seemed to have made sense because he smiled and turned his attention to Cyberdramon. She looked a little downcast when the goggled teen called Rika over. She sighed and complied with the boys' wish, standing next to her other ginger friend.

Takato put a hand on each of the girls' shoulders and stared intently into each girls eyes. He gazed into emerald, then turned his attention to lavender. A big goofy smile appeared on his face before he shook his head side to side quickly, flinging water all over the now clean clothed girls. Yumichi looked betrayed for a moment until her attention was turned to Takato at a full run away from a pursuing Rika, trying desperately to stay away until she calmed down, all the while laughing confidently until she almost managed to lay a hand on him. And as Terriermon put his situation; 'now the real horror begins'.

* * *

_**End of Chapter**_

**_I think that chapter went rather well. It turned out just a little shorter than I had expected initially, by about 600 words or so. Anywho, with MegaMusoKnightmon down for the count, will the Tamers know peace for another few days? Or will something decide to intrude?_**

**_And what of our resident love triangle? Takato may just have to end up choosing one or the other, the poor gogglehead can't seem to decide who has his interest! One moment it seems he likes Yumichi, then Rika! What oh what will I decide to intrude in his life next?_**

**_Stay tuned to find out!_**

**_-DW96_**


	6. Secret Planning

(Disclaimer: About the only thing for Digimon I own, besides some OC characters are a few of the games and some collectables from chip packets.)

* * *

**The Problems of Love**

**Chapter 6: Secret Planning.**

* * *

_**Shinjuku Ward – Shinjuku Park**_

He watched them, his body filled with nothing but disgust for the petty lives they lead. _'The Tamers of Shinjuku... The saviours of both Digital and Human Worlds, a bunch of children. How they are so strong I have no idea.'_ He knelt down onto the soft green grass between the thick trees of the well-known Shinjuku Park.

His emotionless eyes scanned over each of them, one by one, carefully and quietly assessing them all. Henry, constantly berating his long eared partner while also trying to save him from his younger sister Suzie, who already had her long eared partner in a vice-like grip. He snorted at the four and continued on down the line of Tamers. Kazu playing the card game against Kenta as usual, their partners sitting idly on the sidelines. Ryo, the 'Legendary Tamer' getting screamed at by a red haired girl, her Renamon partner watching carefully in the trees while a Cyberdramon looked around impatiently, as if she were waiting for something to happen. _'Not just yet…' _He mused in his own joking manner.

A brown haired girl, Jeri, sat down with another red haired girl that was holding a small Puttimon in her hands, the girl being Yumichi. He recognized the green eyed redhead and snickered in disgust at the small Digimon in her hands. The thought of once being a helpless baby Digimon himself at one stage disturbed him greatly. Takato walked over to Henry with partner in tow, this really made him mad. "You disgust me greatly, you hold such power… Enough to destroy the whole Digital World and you're just following him around like a lost dog, even having to merge with him to become stronger. Yet you are weaker as Gallantmon than you are as Megidramon. It's too bad I can't force you to dark digivolve, having you fight your friends would make for an interesting scene!" He laughed, the scene playing through his head as the Tamers were forced to fight one of their own, some of them being deleted in the process.

"The Renamon is such a weak partner for someone of the Digimon Queen's calibre." An icy voice muttered from behind, his accent sounding heavy and dark.

"Yes, she is a smart girl, I'll give her that. That boy with the holder of the Hazard virus keeps looking at the two redheads…" The first onlooker noted to his counterpart.

"Maybe they have some form of connection?" The second suggested.

"What's the word that humans use…?" The first contemplated; his hand on his chin while he rested his elbow on his knee. "Love, that's the one. Maybe he loves them?"

"From what I've seen it's only ever two humans that can have romantic attractions with each other." The second folded his long arms across his pale chest.

"Then this boy must have to choose one sooner or later. Maybe we can attain what we want, _and_ have a little fun while we're at it." The first giggled maliciously.

"What would this 'fun' entail exactly?" The first stood erect and whispered into the second's ear, forcing him to reveal a gnarly, toothy grin.

"But what of the others? They may help him, and we certainly can't have that." The second's smile faded slightly, waiting for his cohort's answer patiently.

"We bring a few other Digimon back here next time and set them loose somewhere else; forcing them to go and deal with that while we provide some quality entertainment for our three guests. This is almost too easy, I just want to scream until the strength of their world comes crashing down and they're brought to a wicked end." The first laughed, although not as loud as he would've liked to for he was no idiot and knew that the Renamon, Cyberdramon, Terriermon and Lopmon would easily hear him.

"They'll just become forgotten faces that will be put to an eternal rest that'll never find a second heartbeat, as we have. Though I'm not too sure Digimon even have hearts." The second joined his partner in laughing at the Tamers, they had grown stronger since their last encounters and felt that they stood and even bigger chance working together.

"This plan is colder than my heart, if you can imagine." The second chuckled evilly as the two walked away into the forest.

* * *

"Ryo, are you even listening to me here?" Rika seethed, she had been going off at the Legendary Tamer once again for his frequent use of the nickname 'Wildcat' and 'Princess'. She respected his ability but hated that he gloated over her, "Don't make me knock some sense into you!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry," he apologised, shaking his head as if he had just broke away from a deep inner thought, "I thought I heard something over there… I must've heard wrong. Either way, if we don't leave now, Cyberdramon and I won't make it home before dark. See you later," He drew breath to say goodbye using an old nickname for her when she held her fist up to his face.

"Don't even think about." She warned, he nodded and smirked before giving a brief wave. He didn't leave straight away, he respectfully made sure that he had said goodbye to everyone before he did, and once he was out of sight, Rika huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "He really gets on my nerves sometimes." She sighed and turned around to find herself staring into the eyes of Takato.

"Hey Rika," he greeted with a casual smile that put her at ease, "I heard you yelling at Ryo again." He chuckled. "You'll never give him a break, will you?" He smirked.

"You can bet on it, gogglehead." She replied. "Hey, do you mind getting Yumichi over here for me?" Takato raised a sceptical eyebrow at her request, not knowing why the sudden question was asked.

"Please?" She sighed, lowering her hands to her side, she rarely used the 'p' word and Takato realised she must have good reason for wanting to talk to her.

"O-kay." He replied, stretching the word out longer than need be, he was still curious as to the details on why Rika wanted to speak to her, and couldn't ask her herself, but decided against pressing her for details.

Rika saw a look of understanding cross Yumichi's face when Takato had called for her attention; Takato had no idea what he was in for. He was the only one left out of the loop, even Guilmon knew. _'He'll find out soon enough…' _She mused, chuckling to herself internally as Yumichi came to a stop beside her. Rika noticed that she had left Puttimon back with Jeri and that Guilmon had subtly snuck away to stand with Terriermon, both of them watching eagerly.

Takato stood in front of the two redheads and, for some strange reason, winced when Rika leaned over and whispered in Yumichi's ear. A faint grin spread across the emerald eyed girl and she turned and quickly made her way over to Guilmon's shed that he used to accommodate whilst Takato was at school.

Rika took a few steps towards Takato and he took a nervous half-step back, she sighed for the umpteenth time in a matter of half an hour and paced circles around him. "So," she began, "Takato, we all had a pretty fun and eventful time a few days ago, didn't we?" She said her voice soft.

At first it didn't register in his mind, then he remembered that she was referring to the day when they all went out for a mini vacation and were attacked by a MusoKnightmon who then evolved into a MegaMusoKnightmon during the battle. It took a while but they had beaten it and Puttimon had hatched that day too.

"I-I guess we did…everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves." He replied, he felt really paranoid as Rika stopped behind him and forced him to turn around and stare into her eyes.

"But, I seem to remember," she began, all softness in her voice was gone and now she was speaking with a hint of playful sarcasm in her voice, "Yumichi and I had _just_ changed into dry clothes when you splashed water on us. And I realised that neither of us got any real revenge on you."

Takato became wide-eyed and he moved to turn around when Rika grabbed his arms in a vice-like grip, holding him still and preventing him from moving anywhere. He saw the evil look in those amethyst eyes and turned to see the same expression in Yumichi's before he was doused with water from a bucket, Rika had let him go and step back at the last moment to avoid getting doused herself, laughter erupted up all around and it took a good while for everyone to calm down.

* * *

_****_"Maybe," The first onlooker from before said, catching his partners' attention, "we could execute our plan early. It could prove dangerous but I think we may be able to go ahead at least next week." He looked at his partners' icy features carefully, trying to pick up any sign of understanding and was delighted when he saw his lips contort into a wicked smile._**  
**_

"It seems that we are thinking on the same wavelength here, Piedmon."

"I'm glad, IceDevimon. We'll give them a little more time to 'live it up' before we kill them all, eh?" Piedmon chuckled.

"I want the Digimon Queen alive, if she refuses me, then we can kill her." IceDevimon was serious for the most part, he would try one last time to make her his Tamer, and then he would kill her if she refused.

* * *

Takato was relatively dry now, it had taken a while and his hair and clothes were still a little damp and heavy but it wasn't anything that he couldn't put up with. Not too long after the prank had been pulled on him, Henry had to leave, having to have had to take his little sister home, even though she was a Tamer, her father and mother still worried about her. Kazu had gotten tired and decided to head on home, Kenta was staying at his house that night and so, went with him. Jeri had a fair way to get home so she had politely left after saying goodbye. So now it was just Takato, Guilmon, Rika, Renamon, Yumichi and the always energetic little Puttimon.

He was sitting on his side, propped up by his elbow and absentmindedly watched the two redheads' converse. He plucked a blade of grass from over near his sleeping partner and twiddled it with his fingers, folding it and twisting it round. He focused on Yumichi for a moment.

It had been just a little over a month since he first met Yumichi. He had saved her from a psycho clown Digimon called Piedmon and then found out that she was going to attend his school. He definitely felt something for the emerald eyed girl, but that also brought up another question.

What about Rika?

If he thought he felt something for Yumichi, then he knew he definitely felt something for Rika. He had been the first person that she let be her friend, they had travelled through the Digital World with her and their friends, and saved her from falling off of a Parisimon controlled Locomon. He'd be stupid to ever doubt that he had feelings for her. He chuckled inwardly to himself when he remembered when he had admitted to Jeri that he liked her, she had been under the control of the D-Reaper and at that moment he remembered a day when she had made her old sock puppet tell Takato that Jeri only liked him as a friend.

"What are you chuckling about, gogglehead?" Rika had voiced the question and Takato realised that he had accidentally laughed aloud.

"O-Oh…" he stammered awkwardly, "Nothing, what were we talking about again?"

"_We_ weren't talking about anything, Yumichi and _I_ were talking." Rika gave him a sceptical gaze as Yumichi continued on.

"Yeah, _you_ were too busy gawking at us like we were Greek Goddesses'." Takato felt the heat rise up in his cheeks at being caught out, he didn't think he was too far into his thoughts that he was gawking.

"No, I wasn't at all." He knew that trying to deny it was useless, he had been caught out and he knew it.

"C'mon, Takato." Rika said slickly, "Why were you staring at us?"

"I-I ahhh… What's that Guilmon?" He said, kicking his partner lightly to wake him up, "You want bread?"

"Yes please, Takato!" The Digimon chirped cheerfully, wide awake and at full attention now at the mention of food.

"Sorry ladies. But you heard the Mon! Gotta go!" He waved them a goodbye and ran off with Guilmon not a pace behind him. Rika watched him go suspiciously, a look of admiration in her eyes at the quick wit he had managed to show.

"You like him , don't you?" The sudden question from Yumichi caught Rika off guard and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. She tried to form a quick and coherent response but figured that she looked like a fish out of water instead. There was no point in denying it now. But there was another thing.

"But so do you…" She said, she wasn't mad or jealous of Yumichi anymore, she had come to see that she was a nice girl, like Jeri in a way. But she had still had the nagging suspicion that if he had ever come to like either of them, it would be Yumichi.

The green eyed girl just nodded her head sadly. "So we both like the same boy." Yumichi basically pointed out the obvious. Rika was trying to think of a suitable way to deal with this situation, her brain tossed itself over a few times before coming to an idea that seemed remotely possible. She leaned over and whispered her idea into Yumichi's ear, she hadn't needed to whisper, but she did nonetheless. A thoughtful look plastered across Yumichi's face and she played with her hair as she thought.

"I suppose it could work, but don't you think it's a little strange?" She asked, shaking her head side to side, a smile on her face.

"It's really the only thing either of us can come up with, and I know we can do it." Yumichi looked into her fellow redheads' amethyst eyes and didn't see a flicker of doubt in her, Rika was calm and thinking as rationally as ever.

"We'd just have to test it and see." Yumichi replied, Rika gave an almost imperceptible nod in return.

"So, that's a yes?"

"Definitely," she agreed, "I'm glad we're friends now Rika." She added as an afterthought.

Back in Yumichi's house, in the bustling streets of residential Shinjuku, her lost phone glowed in an epic, unseen light, and changed into an all too familiar shape to the Tamers.

* * *

**End of Chapter.**

**The story, to my excitement, is back up and running! I figured we could just have a small chapter seeing as though in the last one we had the epic battle with MegaMusoKnightmon.**

**Piedmon and IceDevimon are back, and they're out for blood. Things don't bode well for Takato and our two redheads. Speaking of redheads… What are they planning for the goggled Tamer now?**

**Only time, and maybe the next chapter, will tell!**

**-DW96**


End file.
